CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The Radcliffe heavyweight varsity eight knocked off defending NCAA varsity champion Yale Saturday morning on the Charles River, marking the Black and White's first win against its rival in eight years.

Radcliffe (7-4) trailed approaching the 1,000 meter mark, but used an effective move heading into the third 500 meters of race to shift the momentum away from the Bulldogs (6-3). Heading into the final 500 meters, the boats were even, but a tremendous sprint over the final 300 meters from the Black and White opened up a six-seat lead crossing the finish line.

"I am very pleased with the results today," head coach Liz O'Leary said of the finish after the race. "This win gives us a great deal of confidence and enthusiasm heading into the final couple weekends of competition. The Ivy League as a whole is extremely fast, and I am just proud as a league that we are doing so well nationally and that the Radcliffe team is competing strongly with the some of the best teams, not only in the Ivy, but the nation."

The win was Radcliffe's first against the Bulldogs since 2003 and cut Yale's Case Cup series lead to 17-14. It was Radcliffe's second straight victory against a top-10 opponent.

In the first race of the day, the Radcliffe second varsity eight fell short of opening the morning with a win for the Black and White, falling by three-fifths of a second in the same difficult conditions.

The Bulldogs also edged Radcliffe in the third varsity eight and the varsity four. In the third varsity race, the Bulldogs posted a time of 7:03.00, besting Radcliffe by 5.1 seconds. The Radcliffe fourth varsity also took to the water at that time, crossing the finish line in 7:26.9.

Yale took a 7.8-second victory over the Black and White in the varsity four race with a time of 7:34.4.